Abstract
We had a case of a successful recovery from prolonged cardiac arrest without airway protection sufficient for artificial breathing through the airway.
An 85-year-old male patient, who had undergone surgery for removal of an oro-pharyngeal cancer tumor and upper cervical lymph node resection, showed dyspnea just after the extubation of a naso-tracheal tube due to his upper airway obstruction, and went into cardiac arrest several minutes after. Re-intubation was tried but resulted in failure because of a huge hematoma-like mass around his larynx and pharynx. Cardiac massage by closed chest compression and oxygen insufflation by a mask with the conventional drug therapy was continued for more than 40 minutes of his cardiac arrest. His heart beats recovered immediately after completion of the tracheotomy and the start of artificial breathing. He regained full consciousness at our intensive care unit on the next day and was discharged from the hospital three months later without any sequelae.
This case suggests that airway protection and artificial breathing may not be essential for successful recovery from cardiac arrest in the initial interventions of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
